God of War: Ascension is a return to Sony Santa Monica's familiar hack-and-slash action series. However, with God of War 3 raising the bar so high and closing the book on Kratos' journey of revenge, Ascension sorely lacks the marvel of the previous games. With little new territory to cover, players are placed in an all-too-familiar journey, with Kratos once again violently dismembering anything in his path.
A shirtless, musclebound man sits on the floor of his cell, chained up. Kratos sizes him up--only to have the man crushed to death by the giant hand of a towering beast. This beast picks up the building Kratos is in, causing the Spartan to tumble around. It's yet another one of God of War's signature boss battles. After a rather lengthy battle, this larger-than-life creature finally gets taken down by Kratos' chains. Of course, Kratos was never known for his good luck. An even larger mountain-sized behemoth grabs the carcass of your downed foe, carrying Kratos along for the ride.
Whoa. It's hard not to get impressed by the awesome scale represented by God of War: Ascension. While Santa Monica Studio's latest is a prequel, it manages to match the epic nature of Kratos' final adventure.
Sony Santa Monica has unleashed the Manticore from God of War: Ascension in a new nine-minute "making of" trailer showing how the massive monster came into being from concept art to animation, and footage dating back to 2010.
While the Sony Santa Monica umbrella spans many games via its external development collaborations, its internal studio is best known for the God of War franchise. In fact, Sony's "God of War team" has never worked on a game outside of that iconic franchise. Santa Monica Studio director Shannon Studstill talked about the studio's attempt at moving away from Kratos, and what ultimately brought them back to the franchise with next year's Ascension.
Read more: Studio created prototypes, but returned to God of War »
Sony has been slowly releasing details on the God of War: Ascension multiplayer beta coming to PlayStation Plus this winter. If you aren't already a Plus subscriber, there's another way in: playing the Rise of the Warrior social game.
It's easy to be skeptical of God of War: Ascension's multiplayer mode. As with all single player games that go online, fans are typically wary. Thankfully, fans will be able to get an early taste of the game's competitive offerings with a brand new global beta--"available exclusively first to PlayStation Plus subscribers."
In God of War 3, Kratos climbed upon Titans and fought the gods of Olympus to a bloody end. It's the very definition of epic. But Ascension is a prequel--what is the appeal of playing as a mere mortal? Game director Todd Papy says that Ascension's prequel nature allows the team to create a more "likable" Kratos--someone you could "somewhat relate to."
Papy explains that in the first God of War, "he was still somewhat ruthless, but there was a side to him that you could somewhat relate to. And that was something I wanted to get across." The goal? For him to be less of an "a**hole" like he was in God of War 3.
Seth Killian, co-founder of the EVO fighting game tournament, has signed up with Sony Santa Monica Studio as lead game designer for fight 'em up PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale and other externally-developed games. Killian was formerly Capcom USA's strategic marketing director of online and community, leaving on June 22.
Read more: All-Stars a "great opportunity" to "rethink fighting fundamentals from the ground up" »
God of War: Ascension may not be ready until March of next year, but that doesn't mean you can't pre-order it now. In an enthusiastic e-mail sent out to PlayStation Network members, Sony has revealed various pre-order goodies and a new Collector's Edition set.
Pre-orders will be entitled to an exclusive "Mythological Heroes Multiplayer Pack," which includes the armor of Achilles, Perseus, Orion, and Odysseus for use in the game's new online mode.
The rumors of a Sony-themed brawler with various PlayStation mascots appears to finally be coming to a head. The company has registered a domain name that will likely serve as the title for the game, and a mysterious PlayStation 3 announcement has been teased for later this week.
Sony's Santa Monica Studio has been rather busy as of late. The team has collaborated on a number of PlayStation 3 releases, including Twisted Metal, Journey, and the upcoming Starhawk. In addition, the studio is developing God of War: Ascension. But apparently, that's not all for Sony's first-party studio. A new job listing from the developer points to a shooter that features vehicles.
Could a new God of War game be in the works? That's the general consensus of Facebook commenters. The PlayStation fan page has recently been updated with this new teaser image which asks: "Will Vengeance Bring Redemption?" Not only does the art and copy fit well with the God of War franchise, one Facebook commenter pointed out the curious file name of the image in use, which includes "gow."
Who would win in a fight? PaRappa the Rapper or Sackboy? Sly Cooper or Jak? Clank or Buzz? Sony has three generations' worth of mascots to call from, making a Smash Bros-styled mash-up entirely feasible. A new rumor suggests that's exactly what Sony is working on.
Developer SuperBot Entertainment is supposedly working on a new PS3 exclusive. Previous job listings confirm that the team is, indeed, working on a fighting game, with calls for a senior combat designer and a lead designer with "strong familiarity with online mode and matchmaking design." In addition, a picture of employees playing with arcade fighting sticks leaked online.
Read more: Rumored roster includes Kratos, Nathan Drake, and more »
"People enjoy and come back to the God of War series for different reasons. For you, it appears ..."
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